Light a Candle to This

So remediation doesn't always mean technologies need to be better...just utilized differently. A little light, some sand, music, and awesome artistry. Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1105044239089&ref=nf

Pedagogies That Offer Presence

Especially today, “The hypermediated self is a network of affiliations, which are constantly shifting. It is the self of newsgroups and email, which may sometimes threaten to overwhelm the user by their sheer numbers but do not exactly immerse her” (Remediation 231). Though the sense of remediation and hypermediation of self has remediated over the past decade—especially with the influence of Web 2.0—its essence remains: Instructors and students alike continue to realize new selves in the many ways remediation in technology offers outlets for personal remediation. The phrase “discovering oneself” has been remediated to hold a more sophisticated, faster evolving meaning. The terms World Wide Web and Internet have always suggested a connectedness capable of spreading to every wired corner of the world. By connecting servers and computers we are also connecting our still-remediating selves. As educators in this connected digital age we must offer students the chance to remediate identity via classroom pedagogy; with every intention that this identity will filter its way into life outside the classroom. Though it is not our duty to hold a student’s hand until he realizes who he is, we should accept the responsibility that through our pedagogies that pay attention to technology we have an opportunity to afford him a newfound, remediated sense of presence.

Perfect Circles. Technology = chalk / board

A Threesome at Disney

Disney’s got it all figured out: Disney succeeds in theme parks based on fantasy that remediates reality, yet manages to create a whole new kind of reality founded in nostalgia and “transparency and authenticity of emotion.” Bolter and Grusin explain that Disney success is largely due to the ultimate triple threat: “Disney television, film, and theme parks each make their own promise of authenticity of experience even as they validated the promise of the other two” (172). This threesome works collectively to ensure Disney’s never-ending place in this world. I’ve never personally been a huge Disney fan but I do like a few of their movies (UP made it on my all-time top 20 movie list), and going to the theme park usually culminates in a negative and crowded experience. Still, I went to Disneyland 4 times over the past 12 months (note: every time was free) and I’ll probably take my kids there too. I’m not exactly sure what it is but Disney’s spell is strong, and if it doesn’t have you it’s got someone dear to you. Muhaha.

Not so proud of these non-skills...

A couple years ago I had a brilliant idea to become a semi-pro poker player to help pay for school. So I invested some money in my skills and ventured into the online gaming world. So maybe the idea wasn’t all that brilliant and my poker skills aren’t really skills at all. It took me only a couple weeks to be down $500 and six months to win it back. After I got most of it back I cashed out, left the gaming world, and never looked back. Though the real money aspect of online gaming isn’t appealing to me anymore (quite scary actually), I sometimes get an itch for the gameplay. Therefore, since May 2008 I’ve been a member of Facebook’s Texas Hold ‘Em Poker application. The money is fake and the games aren’t always exciting, but it does the job of giving me my poker/gaming/competition fix. I play a few times a week, usually to relax a bit or while I’m watching a game or even reading a book, but to be honest I don’t even know if I really enjoy it. Weird. I guess we all have the thing(s) we do to help us through the daily grind.

P.S. There’s something depressing about being a multi-millionaire on Facebook poker. =/

Playing Games, Escaping Society?

Bolter and Grusin call technological innovations (specifically games) "new" and "authentic" experiences that also "divorce us from the physical world" (103). Gaming has become escapism at the most intense level. People spend hours, days, entire weekends immersed in a game world, communicating only with others participating in a similar escape from the physical world. Gamer tags and user names replace actual identity while accomplishing missions and collecting items take the place of real-life experiences. Looking at how "connected" today's online gaming is it's sadly ironic to see how much disconnection it can cause when not practiced responsibly. Gaming Addiction Rehabilitation Centers: Anyone want to invest?

We got to teach some gamers it's okay to take breaks:
http://www.kensavage.com/archives/another-kid-dies-from-playing-online-game/

STARCRAFT

The last game I ever got completely "immersed" in was StarCraft. I first learned to play it in 1998 or so and got fairly good at it rather quickly (probably had something to do with playing it through the night, stopping only when the sun would rudely interrupt). I guess this is sort of an admission: friends used to come over to my place carrying their PC towers and monitors...20 minutes later we'd have a LAN (Local Area Network) of mass intergalactic war.The game was simple enough: Choose one of three clans, Terran (human), Zerg (insect-ish), or Protos (advanced alien), build up your base, develop an army and optional perimeter defense, do some recon with scouts to locate enemy base(s), and the rest is where things get ugly...

You take everything you got and annihilate your enemies before they get a jump on you. This is when the multitasking goes to a whole new level. Commanding a full-blown attack while continuing to build forces at (by this time) your multiple base locations. After you kill your enemies (including helpless workers) and destroy all their structures you can proclaim "VICTORY!" and then start all over again.

And then there's Battle.net, which at this time is strictly an online network for StarCraft games that connects and ranks players on a worldwide scale. This adds another 6 months to my gaming addiction.

Get to know your computer...

With all the Oscar buzz lately I think this directorial masterpiece is more than appropriate. Mike the Monitor, Mickey the Mouse, Kylie the Keyboard, and Charlie the CPU introduce 1st grader Omar to computer parts and some valuable computer etiquette. "Don't bang the mouse!"

Just the thought of a 1st grader working on his/her functional literacy gives me the chills. But then I remember my 4-year-old niece and nephew with their video games and electonic toy laptops (with full-functioning keyboards I might add) and realize 1st grade isn't all that crazy after all (sigh).

REmediation, REthinking, REdoing, REeverything

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” - Ghandi

Bolter and Grusin remind us, “The word remediation is used by educators as a euphemism for the task of bringing lagging students up to an expected level of performance…” (59). Oddly enough the same word, but pronounced REmediation, has found its way back into the classroom, yet the remedial ones now are the instructors struggling to keep up with evolving classrooms and changing students. Implications of Bolter and Grusin’s remediation in the teaching of writing begin with instructors and the pedagogies developed for classrooms. As instructors we must realize the nature of remediation in the classroom; that remediation of technologies and implementation of said technologies into the classroom changes the teaching environment altogether, beckoning a need for remediation within pedagogies. As technological innovations represent different, revised, and in most cases improved versions of predecessors the pedagogies of tomorrow must represent teaching methods along comparable lines of remediation. We should use the new forms of access, communication, and writing made available to use via advances in technology to every advantage we can conceive within our classrooms. Pedagogies have always evolved, changing to best suit the needs of specific courses and student populations; but in today’s digital age we have an opportunity to redevelop pedagogical methods from the inside out—not just showing change but guiding remediation in education that moves with (rather than struggles to keep up with) remediation in technology.